MUMBAI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to take a call on holding byelections to zilla parishads in five districts keeping in mind the law, the Disaster Management Authority notifications and whether it the conditions are “conducive” to polling amid the pandemic.
The SC bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Sanjiv Khanna was hearing a petition by the Maharashtra government for “extending the time frame for concluding the bye-elections” by six months. The state, represented by senior counsel P S Patwalia and standing counsel Rahul Chitnis, cited the new Covid variant and likely third wave in the state as reasons to seek the postponement.
The state election commission (SEC), through its counsel Ajit Kadethankar, told the SC that “if the situation on the ground is conducive for conducting byelections in the concerned constituency and there is no prohibitory order or lockdown order operating in those areas, they could proceed with the election program while ensuring that the standard operating procedures and Covid-19 protocols as notified by the competent authorities, including Disaster Management Authority, will be followed in its letter and spirit”.
The SC took the statement on record and directed the SEC to “proceed in the matter in accordance with law and report compliance within two months”.
The SEC had announced bypolls in five districts — Dhule, Nandurbar, Akola, Washim and Nagpur — and 33 panchayat samitis as they were in unlock level 1, but did not announce the election programme in Palghar district as it was in level 3 on June 22.
The state pointed out that since June 25, the Disaster Management Authority has placed the entire state in level 3. Gatherings of over 100 persons are banned.
In March, the SC had read down a provision of the Maharashtra ZP and Panchayat Samitis Act of1961 to mean that reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies can be notified to the extent that it does not exceed 50% of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together. That month itself, the SEC announced bypolls in the six zilla parishads and 33 panchayat samitis where the 50% ceiling had been breached.
The OBC issue has become a political handle of late, with the state government claiming that the Centre is not providing the empirical data required to give them the reservation.
The opposition counters that it was because of the callousness of the state government that the political reservation was scrapped by the Supreme Court.
The state assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging the Centre to provide the 2011 census data. The state government has also entrusted the Maharashtra State Commission for Backward Classes to collect empirical data of OBCs.
